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So it turns out that the removal of Phox was one of the Linden demands. According to Jessica Lyons, LL demanded “that Lonely Bluebird, Skills Hak and Discrete Dreamscape be removed from the project. The alternative was that LL would block the viewer from access to the SecondLife Grid.”

Unlike Fractured Crystal, Phox would not step aside, so he has now killed Emerald, from my perspective this was done out of childish spite. Some kind of “I can’t have it, so neither can you” attitude. I think we can look back and conclude this was predictable.

However, this is good news, as it at least means users won’t be able to continue to put their machines at risk with software from these people.

It’s also good in that it clearly frees up some staff, like Jessica, who I believe have learned a lot from this and may wish to continue work on a more transparent and trustworthy project.

/me points Jessica towards Lordgreggreg, to whom I believe she has already been introduced. He could probably use a QA manager.

Howard Look, Senior VP Customer Applications, has apparently left Linden Labs to take the position of VP of Software at Lab126.

Also known as Howard Linden, he was hired by Mark Kingdon (M Linden) at the beginning of December, 2008, to “oversee improvements to the Second Life experience and the development of new products and features that enhance the usability and overall customer experience of the Second Life Grid.”

His work seems to have been almost entirely centered around Viewer 2.x, originally described as “Viewer 2009”. His blog postings are few, but centered around the second-generation viewer. Click here to see a summary.

Given the public backlash over Viewer 2.x, Look’s departure, in combination with the return of Philip Linden, raises questions about whether Viewer 2.x is seen as a step forward, or a PR disaster for Linden Lab being cleaned up. Or is it just another clue in the puzzle of The Linden Master Plan.

There are at least four significant changes at Linden Lab that, while seemingly independent, may be related:

The introduction of the 2.x viewer.

The closure of the teen grid.

The introduction of user ids and display names.

and a fourth, which may also be related:

The return of Philip Linden.

Resident-Hostile Decisions – Holding Firm

Considered one at a time, the first three seem to be merely be “poor” decisions by Linden Lab, and contrary to what would seem to be the majority of the residents of Second Life. What stands out as strangely common between all three of these is the steadfast brick wall refusal by the Lindens to alter the course on any of these.

Regarding the 2.x viewer, Oz Linden wrote:Don't waste everyones time suggesting that we throw away Viewer 2, or that we revert the UI to Viewer 1. It is absolutely not going to happen, and any suggestion to that effect will be ignored.

My understanding is that the teen grid is being destroyed, with no regard to the loss of content, the loss of businesses, or the tremendous loss of time and effort placed into it. This is the decision that really set my alarms off; you would think that such a dramatic and terminal move would only be made as a last resort, or as part of some other much larger news, or both.

Then came user ids and display names, and again a tremendous backlash from residents. Again, lip service paid to concerns, but now with a test viewer available, it seems a total disregard for those residents’ concerns, and a completely impenetrable forcefield around the idea of straying from their plan.

This leads me to ask: what exactly is their plan?

The Master Plan

We are missing Something Big here. News that is not yet publicly available. Perhaps it will never come, and this is just posturing, for the possibility of it coming. I’m not sure exactly what it might be, but from my perspective, the signs above are pretty huge — stay tuned for Something Big. Perhaps Linden Lab is on the brink of being sold to new ownership. Perhaps it is fighting for its final breaths before it goes under. Perhaps there is a deal coming to tightly integrate Second Life with Twitter, Facebook or some other social media, or some communications platform such as Skype or Yahoo IM. Imagine opening an IM to skype.philiplinden and chatting with someone who is not actually running Second Life (or even heard of it)? Or going to one of thousands of new “Yahoo Islands” and chatting in local chat with various Yahoo groups. Or walking around Farmville 3D and inspecting your farm, petting your new kittens, in a virtual world. Something is coming…or being worked on, positioned. I am not sure what… but something is coming.

What if there was Something Big coming to Second Life? Something that was directly enabled by the use of Viewer 2.x, user ids and display names? Something where those significant changes above were needed only as the first step? And what if that Something Big… already supported users 16 years or older? (So it could not happen in Second Life unless 16 and 17 year old teens were allowed on the main grid?)

Now read back those three points at the start of this article… not as individual changes, but as building ingredients in Something Big?

Let’s look at the fourth point above, the return of Philip Linden. Does that strengthen the possibility that Something Big is on the horizon? If there was, would it make sense for it to be guided by the original founder of Second Life? Or do you think he just might want back in? To oversee it first-hand? I think the answer is a clear yes, it’s “his baby”. And that applies both in the positive case (big merger or deal with a third party) and possibly also in the negative case (Linden Lab/Second Life sale to a third party, or the end of Second Life in general).

An finally, a fifth event: 30% layoffs. I’d say that throws another log on the fire of acquisition by a third party. Certainly would make them a bit more tasty. Perhaps there is no specific corporate sugardaddy in mind, but maybe part of Philip’s plan is simply to make Linden Lab and Second Life more attractive to someone else. It also throws a log on the fire of possible Linden Lab meltdown, and Philip is back to try to save his baby and prevent that from happening.

Also don’t write off the possibility that those layoffs were Philip’s. While they happened prior to his return, it is common practice for outgoing leaders to do the dirty work of then incoming ones. In US politics, that is partly what Presidential pardons are all about, and why they typically happen at the end of the term of a president.

Concerns

My concerns are mostly regarding the flagrant disregard for residents’ concerns, virtual assets, the time, money, energy and effort put into content and businesses. If they can just close the teen grid, they can do the same to the main grid. I believe Linden Lab no longer sees Second Life as a world, a place to go to escape and live your dreams, but rather as a service, much like a telephone. They see it as a way for people to meet and socialize. The difference of course is that your phone line is portable, in the sense that if one phone company closes down or cuts off your service, you can always just pay a different one to provide the same service. Unfortunately, with the closed system that is Second Life, if they cut off your service, it is effectively a total loss. You cannot just start paying a different service provider and continue on like it was never cut off.

But I don’t really believe the Master Plan is to end service. So why would they continue on with all three of these major initiatives in spite of a huge outcry on all three from the residents? Something bigger. Something even bigger than the people who make Second Life what it is. (Or so the Lindens may think.)

When it comes out, to make up for what they’ve been doing, it damn well better be hoooooge. And it damn well better be worth it to existing residents too.

I think you all know the story. A crew of malicious juvenile abusers added content theft, privacy violations, and malicious features to a Second Life viewer third-party viewer. Originally vLife, rebranded as Onyx, then maintained as a parallel branch to the “legit” Emerald viewer managed by many of the same malicious juvenile abusers.

Yet many users on Second Life (as well as other grids) continue to run the Emerald viewer.

What exactly is it that people don’t get? It’s true that I too forgave, and forgave, and believed “it won’t happen again” repeatedly… but the Emerald team has shown over and over that they have no respect for others, no regard for content ownership unless they have full-rights copies, and that they have no ability to make appropriate moral judgements. The time to clue in has long passed.

I am not being harsh; I’m actually keeping it tame and civil, especially given the way this team of have played us and used us since the start. Now once again they ask us to forgive, and claim once again that it won’t happen…again. Folks… it will, if you keep giving them chances… geesh.

They claim Fractured Crystal, the original author of vLife/Onyx, may not be connected anymore. Yeah the team is pissed at him, but the first time he brings some kool nu hax to the team, he’ll be back in, under a new name. They will want it more than they will want to keep him out. Even if it’s something only mildly kool.

But let’s accept that Fractured is out, and forget him; let’s look instead at who remains on the new “trusted” team… let’s look at Phox (Lonelybird) who is still a key part of the new “clean” Emerald team. If you haven’t believed there was a problem, believe now. Here are a few of the code commits by Phox (and two from the modest and spelling-challenged Cryogenic) on vLife/Onyx, clearly a non-compliant, possibly illegal, parallel development branch of Emerald (yes, they also claim now that those projects are dead, or severed from Emerald… but these projects had coders who overlapped significantly, tried to keep Emerald and vLife/Onyx in sync, and most importantly, it shows the mindset of these Emerald “contributors”):

Now here’s the part I really don’t get — the argument “well there’s no concrete proof that we can’t trust them now”. Okay, first there is overwhelming evidence all over the place, and they readily admit most of it anyway. In fact much of it is admitted because they actually want to brag about it like it’s some kind of sick prize… more evidence of a lack of moral compass. I have to admit, they are very good at fooling people. And having Jessica speak instead of Arabella has improved their PR campaign significantly. But it’s your computer, not theirs. And they have abused your computer in the past. We aren’t even talking about a potential future threat here. Don’t let the PR act fool you.

You do have a choice. The great thing about the whole Third Party Viewer program is that it gives you a choice. You don’t have to use a specific viewer; there are many good ones out there. So why do you want to run something from people who admit they have done this work? Who admit that they seek revenge on critics and don’t care who gets used or hurt in the process? Malicious morons with the moral compass of a pile of mud?

Here’s an analogy (that you won’t like): you need to find a babysitter for your children, and the friendliest babysitter just happens to also have a history of pedophilia and violence, but he claims he has changed, and he is recommended by others, do you trust him with your children? Maybe he has changed… but it doesn’t really matter to you, because you have a choice. There are others you can use instead. Make that choice and realize that you don’t need to see concrete proof first-hand that he hasn’t changed, before you make that choice to hire a different babysitter. You don’t need proof; they are your kids. There are less-risky alternatives, and you’d have to be a fool to put your kids at risk, given the history.

Now you have a choice with viewers too. Make that choice. Choose between a crew of malicious juvenile abusers who added content theft, privacy violations, and malicious features to their viewer, who readily admit that your machines have been violated to attack the web site of a critic, but may have changed fundamentally over the years weeks since, or you can choose some other organization with a clean history.

Personally I would recommend either the Imprudence viewer (if you want a feature-rich viewer), or the Linden-hosted Snowglobe (if you want something from Linden Lab). Or if you want one final, hopefully clean version of Emerald, you can grab the cleaned and polished version of it from the insider who exposed some of the Emerald scandals: Emergence viewer.

Just pick something… else. Besides, walking around with an Emerald green tag over your head now is like painting a giant “L” on your forehead.